Looking for a foolproof way to measure ROI of your social media efforts? Read on to find out how to get the biggest bang for your social media buck. At Four51, commerce is in our veins. Whether it’s our heritage product CommerceTools or informing our content and offer types in our mobile and social marketing tool, FanTools. We believe commerce online, on the go and on social networks is what fuels business today and helps define Return on Investment (ROI) of online activities for businesses big or small.

Social Commerce is Social Media Marketing ROI

Allen Bonde over at 1 to 1 Media wrote a great post at the end of last week that discusses the role commerce plays in the content marketing world of social media. In his post, Moving From Content Marketing to Social Commerce, Bonde introduces an idea that I love.

In my words, Bonde introduces the concept that product is content and one of the many pieces of shareable content that makes social media relevant to today’s business. It is my firm belief that a substantial portion of developing a relevant ROI model for social media marketing comes from the combination of content marketing and social commerce. Commerce allows a business to actually measure true dollar value of activity on social networks.

Bond outlines two key reasons why adding product to the content marketing mix on social media is a potent way to grow your business.

Shared content and experiences (drive social) commerce.

This shouldn’t come as any surprise. Humans are pack animals and if you have any doubt that purchase decisions are more and more being informed by our social networks, check out this video from Eric Qualman on the Social Media Revolution.

Commerce creates community, which drives demand for more content.

Bonde’s point here touches on the cyclical nature of all social media, content marketing endeavors. That the job is never finished and one action increases demand for other actions creating a marketing experience that is exponentially ongoing.

Add to the mix Facebook’s addition of frictionless sharing and social commerce is about to get a whole lot more interesting in the months and years ahead.

So a working ROI model for social media would look like:

total commerce/cost of activity(acquisition)

Sure, that’s overly simplified but it’s a starting point, right?

What are your thoughts on commerce in the social media marketing ROI equation?

Ryan Ruud, Director of Marketing & Communications, Four51, Inc.

Ryan leads traditional and non-traditional marketing efforts for Four51′s suite of web, local, social and mobile commerce and marketing applications.